BJP leaders Dharmendra Pradhan, JP Nadda, Shyam Jaju, Saroj Pandey and observer Narendra Singh Tomar announced Rawat as its legislative party leader on Friday, effectively making him the next chief minister of the state. The 56-year-old is said to be close to BJP chief Amit Shah and was one of the three deputies attached to him in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The swearing-in ceremony took place on March 18 at 3 pm at Parade Grounds in Dehradun for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah were present, along with select ministers from the Union government and central office bearers. Party sources told IANS that six ministers were also likely to be sworn in with Rawat.

The BJP won 57 of the hill state’s 70-member state assembly to wrest power from the Congress, which managed to win only 11 in the assembly elections.

Following are the live updates from the swearing-in ceremony:

Swearing-in ceremony concludes. A total of nine ministers take oath, including seven cabinet ministers and two ministers of state.

1.30 pm: Sources say that a senior party leader Satpal Maharaj was unhappy that he was not considered for the chief minister’s post. When reporters met him today, he ducked the question of whether he would like to be a minister.

12.50 pm: Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Uttarakhand’s CM-designate Trivendra Singh Rawat pays tribute at the ‘Saheed Isthal’ in Dehradun, set up in the memory of those who were killed during separate statehood movement in 1994.

The 56-year-old Rawat, known to be close to BJP chief Amit Shah, emerged as the frontrunner in Uttarakhand from a pool of at least six names. In an interview with HT, he said that he has a “single point agenda - development.

“People are struggling for basic amenities even after 16 years of the formation of Uttarakhand. The condition of schools, health facilities, roads is pathetic. Besides, there is a lack of employment opportunities,” he said. Read the full interview here.